Bevor er als Professor für „Wasserbau und Wasserwirtschaft“ an das KIT berufen wurde, hatte Mário Franca die Professur für „Hydraulic Engineering for River Basin Development“ am IHE Delft Institute for Water Education in den Niederlanden inne. Vorherige akademische Stationen waren die École Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in der Schweiz, die New University of Lisbon (Portugal), sowie die University of Coimbra (Portugal).

Neben seiner beratenden Tätigkeit im Wasserbau leitete er die Hydraulikabteilung eines Ingenieurbüros. In dieser Funktion war er an angewandten Projekten in den Bereichen Dämme, Wasserkraft, Wasserversorgung, Flussbau, Entwässerung, Bergbau, Notfallplanung und Sicherheit hydraulischer Infrastrukturen beteiligt und leitete diese.

Mário Franca ist aktives Mitglied der IAHR, der EGU und der AGU. Er ist Teil der Leitungsgremiums des IAHR-Committee on Fluvial Hydraulics, regelmäßiger convener von sessions auf EGU-Generalversammlungen sowie Mitherausgeber der Zeitschrift Water Resources Research.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0265-8581

Mário Franca's Forschungsschwerpunkte sind Flussbau, -sanierung und -renaturierung, Sicherheit von Wasserbauwerken, Wasserkraftnutzung, Risiken durch Wasserextreme (Hoch- und Niedrigwasser, Starkniederschläge), turbulente Prozesse in offenen Gerinnen, Dichteströmungen, Morphodynamik von Flüssen.

2022
Valero, Daniel, Biruk S. Belay, Antonio Moreno-Rodenas, Matthias Kramer, and Mário J. Franca. The key role of surface tension in the transport and quantification of plastic pollution in rivers. Water Research 226 (2022): 119078.
Crosato, A., A. Grissetti-Vázquez, F. Bregoli, and M. J. Franca. Adaptation of river channels to a wetter or drier climate: Insights from the Lower Pilcomayo River, South America. Journal of Hydrology 612 (2022): 128254.
Panthi, Manisha, Aaron A. Lee, Sudesh Dahal, Amgad Omer, Mário J. Franca, and Alessandra Crosato Effects of sediment flushing operations versus natural floods on Chinook salmon survival. Scientific reports 12, no. 1 (2022): 1-17, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-19294-2.
John Conallin, Nora Van Cauwenbergh, Nicolette Duncan, Win Win Zin, Zau Lunn, Htike Htike, Greg Martin, Thom Bogaard, Mário J. Franca; Supporting evidence-based decision-making: Capacity Building through Research. Water Policy 1 May 2022; 24 (5): 827–838. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2022.265
Paudel, S., Singh, U., Crosato, A., & Franca, M. J. (2022). Effects of initial and boundary conditions on gravel-bed river channel formation. Advances in Water Resources, 104256. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ADVWATRES.2022.104256
Franca, M. J., Valero, D., & Liu, X. (2021). Turbulence and Rivers. In Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences (2nd ed.). Elsevier Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-818234-5.00135-8
Ludwig P., Ehmele F., Franca M.J., Mohr S., Caldas-Alvarez A., Daniell J. E., Ehret U., Feldmann H., Hundhausen M., Knippertz P., Küpfer K., Kunz M., Mühr B., Pinto J. G., Quinting J., Schäfer A. M., Seidel F. & Wisotzky C.: A multi-disciplinary analysis of the exceptional flood event of July 2021 in central Europe. Part 2: Historical context and relation to climate change, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-225, in review, 2022
Mohr, S., Ehret, U., Kunz, M., Ludwig, P., Caldas-Alvarez, A., Daniell, J. E., Ehmele, F., Feldmann, H., Franca, M. J., Gattke, C., Hundhausen, M., Knippertz, P., Küpfer, K., Mühr, B., Pinto, J. G., Quinting, J., Schäfer, A. M., Scheibel, M., Seidel, F., and Wisotzky, C.: A multi-disciplinary analysis of the exceptional flood event of July 2021 in central Europe. Part 1: Event description and analysis, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-137, in review, 2022
Juez, C., & Franca, M. J. (2022). Physical Impacts of Sand Mining in Rivers and Floodplains. Encyclopedia of Inland Waters, 225–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-819166-8.00211-5
Franca, M. J., Juez, C., Kurniawan, A., & Zemann, M. (2022). Case Studies of Sediment Mining Activity. Encyclopedia of Inland Waters, 239–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-819166-8.00194-8

2021
Qatarneh A., Dupont C., Michel J., Simonin L., Beda A., Ghimbeu C.M., Ruiz-Villanueva V., da Silva Perez D., Piégay H. & Franca M.J. River driftwood pretreated via hydrothermal carbonization as a sustainable source of hard carbon for Na-ion battery anodes. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 9(6), p.106604.

Qatarneh A.F., Dupont C., Ruiz-Villanueva V., da Silva Perez D., Ashour R.M., Piégay H. & Franca M.J. Evaluating river driftwood as a feedstock for biochar production. Waste Management, 134, pp.197-205.

Calamita E., Siviglia A., Gettel G.M., Franca M.J., Winton R.S., Teodoru C.R., Schmid M. & Wehrli B. Unaccounted CO2 leaks downstream of a large tropical hydroelectric reservoir. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118 (25) e2026004118

Pradhan A, Marence M. & Franca M.J. The adoption of Seawater Pump Storage Hydropower Systems increases the share of renewable energy production in Small Island Developing States. Renewable Energy, Vol. 177, pp 448-460

Venuleo S., Pokrajac D., Tokyay T., Constantinescu G., Schleiss A.J. & Franca M.J. Parameterization and results of SWE for gravity currents are sensitive to the definition of depth. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 147(5), 04021016

McKie C.W., Juez C., Plumb B.D., Annable W.K., & Franca M.J. How large immobile sediments in gravel bed rivers impact sediment transport and bed morphology. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 147 (2), 04020096

Ruangpan L., Vojinovic Z., Plavšić J., Doong D.-J., Bahlmann T., Alves A., Tseng L.-H., Randelović A., Todorović A., Kocic Z., Beljinac V., Wu M.-H., Lo W.-C., Perez-Lapeña B. & Franca M.J. Incorporating stakeholders’ preferences into a multi-criteria framework for planning large-scale Nature-Based Solutions. Ambio, doi: 10.1007/s13280-020-01419-4

2020
Stähly S., Franca M.J., Robinson C.T. & Schleiss A.J. Erosion, transport and deposition of a sediment replenishment under flood conditions. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, doi: 10.1002/esp.4970

Magaju D., Cattapan A. & Franca M.J. Identification of run-of-river hydropower investments in data scarce regions using global data. Energy for Sustainable Development 58, 30-41

Plumb B.D., Juez C., Annable W.K., McKie C.W. & Franca M.J. The impact of hydrograph variability and frequency on sediment transport dynamics in a gravel-bed flume. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, doi: 10.1002/esp.4770

Ouro P., Juez C. & Franca M.J. Drivers for mass and momentum exchange between the main channel and river bank lateral cavities. Advances in Water Resources, 137,103511